HARRY'S POV ❁
"I'm cold," Rosie complains quietly, pacing over to me with her arms hugged tightly around her own torso. She steps over her brothers outstretched feet and over to me, then giggles when she nearly trips into my arms. I catch her in my lap and she continues to laugh, which then makes me laugh.
"Why don't we work on warming you up instead of breaking bones, yeah?" I tease back. She looks up at me from where she's fallen in my arms and nods, then sits up to press her back against my chest. I link my arms tightly around her waist and pull her body closer to mine, then rub my hands up and down her goosebump covered arm.
"Rosie, you can borrow my jacket if you want." Camellia offers from across the room, looking up at us from where she's relaxed into a chair with Aiden fast asleep in her arms. Rosie only shakes her head back and relaxes further against my body.
Aiden- the lively four year old- made an appearance at the hospital this afternoon with his nanny, spoke with Jane for a few hours about random things, brightened the mood, then passed out in Camellia's arms. Each time Jane and Aiden would interact with each other I noticed Rosie watching them closely with sad eyes.
I wasn't sure if it was because her mum was in the hospital and Aiden was so happy to see her- despite the situation- or if it was the typical inner battle she was always wagering with herself while watching Camellia live out her dream life. Rosie's wanted kids since the day we got married and I know that she loves Aiden to death, but every time he's around it seems to be a painful reminder that her sister gets to experience that bit of life that she won't.
"Rosie," I say softly, pulling myself from my own thoughts.
"Hmm?" She turns her head down towards me and I silently pucker my lips back to her. She leans down to press a gentle kiss to my lips, then pulls away to look back at her family. Our exchange manages to go unnoticed by everyone in the room-- besides Jane. She watches us with a happy smile and pretends to not have been looking when I look over at her. I ignore her look and glance up at Rosie again who now isn't paying attention to me.
After another moment of listening to the conversation flowing effortlessly through the room, I glance over at Jane again, then up at Rosie for the millionth time. Jane is suddenly intrigued with something Eli is going on about and I take the opportunity to speak with Rosie again.
"Baby," I say softly, nudging my nose against her shoulder before nipping my teeth playfully at the soft fabric of her shirt. She looks back at me with a confused smile and giggles a bit, but doesn't say anything.
"Rosiiiee," I continue pressing on, making her giggle again. She doesn't turn back to look at me this time, but I feel her hand move down from her side to pinch my hip. I pinch her hip directly after, which she then returns for a second time.
When I look up away from her again, I notice Jane's gaze trained back on us for the millionth time since we arrived this morning. Since the day Rosie introduced me to her parents her mum had always had some strange fascination with mine and Rosie's interactions together. It's endearing and clearly a good-natured curiosity, but it has always made me feel unnecessarily nervous.
"Come to the bathroom with me." I mumble softly against Rosie's ear, suddenly itching to get out of the crowded room. Between her mum watching our every move and her brothers giving me a warning glare any time I touch her somewhere besides her hands- I need a moment away to take a breather.
"You can't go alone?" She whispers back, finally looking down at me.
"Nope." I smile back up at her. Her own lips quark up into a sweet smile in return, then she's up off my lap seconds later.
"We're going to run to the restroom for a minute. Be right back." She explains quickly to her mum, then reaches for my hand and pulls me towards the exit of the room. Andrew sends us a questioning look as we leave, but doesn't actually say anything.
"When are we going home?" I ask the second we step into the hall. I like hanging out with her family, but the thought of going into work early tomorrow morning after a non-relaxing weekend makes me want to head off to bed early.
"You can go home whenever you want." She shrugs back, dropping her hand from where it's cupping my own at our sides.
"Why do you seem pissed? I was just asking." I snap back, surprised by her sudden change in mood. Just a minute ago she was being playful and now she's giving me the cold shoulder over damn question.
"I'm not pissed. I'm just tired and I want to go home, too, but I don't want to leave my mom. All I was saying is that you can take a can back if you want." She responds. Her hand reaches for the door handle once we reach the bathroom at the end of the hall and we both step in without considering how it would look to anyone around us.
Marriage has seemed to bring us closer in more ways than I ever imagined, and sometimes I forget that there are people outside of what we do together. Peeing while in the same room as one another seems to be an everyday thing for us.
"I'll leave when you leave. I just wanted to know." I finally respond. Rosie nods in acknowledgement, then paces over to the mirror to check her appearance while I undo the zipper of my pants.
Once I'm finished taking a quick piss and washing my hands afterwards, Rosie steps away from me to open the door again, but I stop her.
"Let's take a minute before we go back. I'm getting claustrophobic in there with all of the people." I admit softly, using my hold on her wrist to pull her body over to mine. She complies easily and her head is resting on my chest before her feet have even stopped moving so that she can stand in front of me.
"I want to go home and sleep until Tuesday when my mom gets out of here. It's too stressful to keep visiting her. I hate walking into this building and not knowing if I'll find her happy and smiling or in pain and knocked out." Rosie's voice comes out quiet and full of worry, which then begins to worry me. I hate seeing her stressed out like this. Really, I hate seeing her anything but happy.
"It's only two more days, Rosie. Your mum will be fine and on Tuesday you can drive her home and get her all situated at her place then take her some of that soup that you always make her when she's sick." I assure back, leaning down to kiss her forehead as my hands rub soothingly up and down her back.
"She does like that soup." She mumbles back. I nod on agreement, then lean back to look at her. Worry is clearly etched into her expression, and I want nothing more than to take all the stressful things away from her life so that she can be the same happy, smiling, lively girl that she usually is when things seem to be okay in our life.
"Also, Rosie, you've got to stop staring at your sister and Aiden like you have been. It's starting to get kind of creepy." My tone is teasing, but my comment is completely serious.
I noticed Eli looking at her earlier when she was staring at Aiden and he looked concerned. No one besides me really knows Rosie's reasoning, and I somewhat wish she would just tell her family so that we wouldn't have to do this shit on our own. She's hurting over it and I don't ever know what to say to make her feel better.
"I know. I have a hard time with it though, especially with my mom being sick like this." She brings her hand up to wipe away a tear that's fallen from her eye, then leans back against my chest again.
"I know, baby. We've just got to be patient. The doctor said it'd be a miracle, but it's not impossible. We've just got to stay hopeful and keep trying." I assure back. It seems pointless, though. No matter what I say it doesn't change the reality of things. According to the doctor we met with last year, Rosie can get pregnant (although it's uncommon in cases like hers), but she couldn't carry the baby. It's a ninety-eight percent chance that her nor the baby would end up healthy if she tried to carry it full term. The two percent of hope though has been the only thing that's seemed to keep Rosie together.
"Even if a miracle happened tomorrow it'd still be nine months before I even had the baby, and who knows if my mom will still be okay by then? She wasn't supposed to make it six months after her diagnoses, let alone seven years of off and on cancer. The doctors are basically looking at it now as when it happens, it just happens. They can't really plan it." Her fingers curl tightly against my shirt to hold my body impossibly close to hers. She's craving comfort and I have no idea how to give it to her.
"I'd change it all for you if I could, Rosie. I really would. I'd make your mums cancer go away and I'd get your parents back together and I'd move your brothers back to New York and I'd try harder to be a better husband to you. Most of all, I'd change the results of us having kids. I know it's hard to cope with, but it's not my fault, or yours, okay? We have to remember that." I kiss her forehead again, then move down to kiss the tip of her nose. She nods back in understanding and I sigh while wiping a tear away from her cheek.
"I love you so much, Rosalie. Whether things always work out for us or not, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me. If we can't make a family at least we've got each other." I move on to kissing her lips instead and both of us ignore her salty tears streaming down between our connected lips. She cups my face with her hands and pulls me down closer towards her. We kiss for a long moment without moving our lips, but neither is mind. When she finally does pull away, she wipes her eyes, then looks back up at me.
"I can't even comprehend how lucky I am to have you." She admits softly, bringing her hands up to cup my face again.
"I love you so much, Harry." She adds.
"I love you more, baby." I gently peck her lips again, then we finally detach ourselves from each other. She wipes her eyes with the back of her hand and sniffles quietly.
"Ready to go back?" I ask in a gentle voice, not wanting to push her. I meant to just have a chat with her in here-- not make her cry.
"Yeah." She nods once, then reaches for my hand. We skip past lacing our fingers together and instead just cup each other's palms while walking out of the restroom and back to the hallway.
Once we get back down to where her mums hospital room is, her entire family is standing outside of the door with their jackets on.
"What's going on?" Rosie asks in concern, looking between her sister and her father expectantly.
"The doctor wanted her to sleep. We can come back in the morning." Calvin smiles sweetly at Rosie and she sighs in relief. Without another word, she steps closer into my side and I notice Camellia giving her a questioning look, most likely from her post-crying-on-my-chest appearance.
"Do you guys have any recommendations for hotels?" Eli asks as we begin walking towards the elevators. Rosie glances back at her mums room as if she wants to protest about leaving, but she doesn't actually speak up.
"Hotels? You guys don't need to go to a hotel." Rosie jumps back into the conversation once we all step into the lift. Her body turns swiftly to face me and her arms link around my waist without second thought of who's watching us. I sort of like when she's needy and cuddly.
"It doesn't seem right to have you guys at a hotel while we're all together because of mom. We have two guest rooms at our place. You all can just stay with us." She continues, shrugging thoughtlessly while looking over at her two brothers. Eli's arm is around his wife's waist and Andrew looks amused watching Rosie and I interact.
"I mean, we can't fit everyone, but at least people who don't live in the city." She giggles a a bit and glances over at Camellia and Christopher, then over at her dad.
"Are you guys sure? We don't want to bombard you with company on a Sunday night. You both have work in the morning and..."
"Nonsense." Rosie cuts Eli's wife off before she can even finish her thought.
"I can ask extra employees to come into the shop tomorrow so that I don't have to go in, and Harry's a heavy sleeper so you don't have to worry about him." She adds, smiling as she looks up at me. She hasn't even consulted me about having all of them stay with us, but I know I can't say no, especially to her family.
"Okay... That would be really great." Eli finally agrees for all of them and Rosie nods, then lays her head on my chest.
"I guess it wouldn't be too shabby to spend a few days in your million-dollar high rise loft." Andrew comments jokingly and everyone laughs, including Rosie who's keeping her face buried in my chest. She's acting strange, but I can assume she has a lot on her mind.
"It'll be like one giant family sleepover." Andrew exclaims happily, which everyone seems to simultaneously groan at.
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